‘Rango’ wins the Annie Award. As it should.

The animated tale of a theater-loving pet chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) taking on the role of a lifetime in a modern-day Old West desert town peopled (?) by various critters and varmints, both nefarious and benign, took home the best animated feature Annie Award at the 39th annual ceremony of the the International Animated Film Society on Saturday.

And all is right with the world. Rango was one of my favorite 15 films of 2011 and I think it’s a stunner. Not just for kids, it’s an adult complex mash-up of Sergio Leone, the tricky water-based plot of Chinatown (or maybe Who Framed RogerRabbit?) and countless oaters, especially myth-makers like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And oh yeah, it’s very funny.

It easily bested the competition: Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Cars 2, Rio and The Adventures of Tintin. At next months Oscars, though, it won’t have Cars 2, Rio or Tintin to kick around. Their presumed spots were taken by the foreign cartoons, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita.

But back to the Annies. Rango also racked up wins for best screenplay (John Logan, Gore Verbinksi and James Byrkit), character design and editing. Verbinski lost the directing nod to Jennifer Yuh Nelson for KFP2. Hmmmm. And one of Rango‘s stellar voice talents, Bill Nighy, scored the voice acting award – but for his other role as Grandsanta in Arthur Christmas.

Check out the complete list of winners, both TV and movie, here. But first, check out Rango from your local library, Red Box, store, On Demand, download, etc.